NBA should fret, Heat won't lose many more

Big Three look awful — and that's bad news to every NBA team

October 26, 2010|Dave Hyde, Sun Sentinel Columnist

BOSTON — A friend walked up at halftime and asked: "How do you make any Heat superstar miss a shot?"

Answer: Give him the ball.

Yes, the jokes started early Tuesday. That was expected. Goliath got punked. In their first quarter together, the Heat's Dream Team scored fewer points (nine) than in any Heat quarter last year. Where have you gone, Quentin Richardson?

That's why the Heat's loss to Boston 88-80 actually was worse news for the rest of the NBA. Go ahead and laugh a little more at that one, if you want.

But let me go further: This game was the very worst news the rest of the league could have received. There's really no other way to assemble what happened in this Heat opener in another context.

The Heat looked awful deep into Tuesday. It wasn't just the first quarter. The Big Three shot a collective 7-of-27 with two assists and nine turnovers at half. Does anyone think they'll have a worse half all season?

Then, through much of the second half, the Heat played without one of the league's top four players. Dwyane Wade sat on the bench. He hadn't played in three weeks. He looked like it. So did the Heat with him.

"Out of rhythm,'' Wade said. "LeBron said it's my first preseason game. The continuity's still not there. But I thought defensively we played well. The offense is coming. It just didn't come tonight like we wanted."

If the Heat were playing Wednesday's opponent, Philadelphia, that wouldn't have mattered. But they drew the toughest opener they could have. Boston. In Boston. With a full fury of Boston frenzy waiting them. And that was just the team.

This is what the Heat will be up against all year, of course. The difference here is the Celtics are good. They're the second-best team in the Eastern Conference when healthy, as they showed Tuesday night.

The Celtics are a roster of veterans and champions and plenty of good players in proper roles. Shaquille O'Neal aside, they've been together for a few seasons. And that's really why the rest of the league was put on notice Tuesday.

After leading by 15 points at half and 19 points midway through the third quarter, the Celtics had to hang on desperately for the win against a stumbling Heat team.

The Heat cut the lead to four points with eight minutes left in the game. The Celtics then took charge again. Then the Heat stormed on a 8-0 run to make it 83-80 with a couple of minutes left.

Let's review the night: The Heat were awful. Their best players were their worst. Wade made 4-of-16 shots. Chris Bosh was 3-of-11. LeBron had an ungodly eight turnovers.

"Probably the only positive is the fact that — come on, if you're shooting (29) percent it's about as poor as you can shoot offensively in the first half and you still have a chance by grinding it,'' Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

Down by those three points, they just needed a defensive stop to pull out the unlikely win.

No, they didn't get it. The Celtics hung on. Paul Pierce hit a big shot and Boston became America's darlings for this opening night by beating the Heat.

"We'll get better and get on the same page,'' Spoelstra said. "But it will take a little process and time. I think you saw that out there."

Tuesday did provide the kind of venom this team will face. One fan had a big mask of a crying LeBron. There were a few "Queen James" signs. So if you didn't know who is America's new villain by now, you saw evidence of it up close on the first night.

Those fans got to celebrate Tuesday. Others got to laugh. You can understand that. But you also had to see that as bad as the Heat looked, they were right there to win at the end.

"We hit a couple of the layups we missed or one of those open 15-footers and it's different,'' Bosh said.